A Game of Excellence
by Melon Delight
Summary: Draco is acting extremely odd towards Hermione in his time of mourning.. at least he should be.
1. Chapter 1- Casualities

"A Game of Excellence"  
  
Chapter 1  
  
Draco sat down at the Slytherin table, many of his peers chattered away. Their eyes stared at him, piercing into his body as he looked up to his table. Draco pretended he wasn't listening to what they were saying but their voices were drowning his ears with lies. He knew what they were talking about because everyone seemed to take his father's death more tragically then he did. By now they would all notice Draco knew what they were talking about but they acted as if he didn't.  
  
"I heard he would beat Draco, maybe that's why he's relieved of his father's death," said a fellow Slytherin at the far side of the table.  
  
Pansy spoke up in a loud whisper, "His father didn't beat him but Draco just has pure hatred for him."  
  
Draco's body was overcome with anger, "I'm right fucking here, you think I don't hear you?"  
  
His voice startled the table; they all stared at him again. Draco couldn't take it anymore; he lost his appetite. The chair screeched loudly as Draco go up from his seat and left the Great Hall to go back to his common room.  
  
"What's wrong with him?" asked Harry as he watched Draco walk off and he could of swore he gave the whole room the finger.  
  
Hermione was observing him the whole time, "Well, his father died today. Just imagine getting an owl that informed you your father had passed, I would be devastated."  
  
"I always thought Draco would be happy with this kind of news," joked Ron, Hermione gave him a nasty look.  
  
"Ron, you idiot," Hermione and Harry said in unison.  
  
Ron had a sour expression on his face, "Hey, it's not my fault he's an asshole. You get what you give, as I like to say it."  
  
"Right, well anyway, I must go back to the common room. I left my transfiguration book on one of the coffee tables. I can't believe I've gotten so careless, bye," Hermione informed the two, they both nodded their heads as in some kind of approval.  
  
Hermione pulled the wooden chair back as she got up from the seat, straightening her robes as she walked out the Great Hall. She made her way swiftly to the common room, not noticing the surroundings near her.  
  
A gentle touch lay upon Hermione's shoulder, she screamed in fear. Her head turned around to see who had managed to keep up to her.  
  
"Draco, I mean Malfroy?" Hermione asked in surprise.  
  
Draco replied, "At your service."  
  
"Why are you following me?" Hermione demanded for an answer.  
  
He gave out a witty laugh, "I wasn't following you, just merely wondering what you were up to, Granger."  
  
His fingers were now slithering down Hermione's back; she shivered in fear and excitement. Hermione shot him a look of pure hatred, what kind of game was he playing?  
  
"Malfroy." Hermione started, her temper was being teased with.  
  
"When are you going to start calling me Draco?" Draco asks aggressively, pushing her towards his face.  
  
Hermione felt in an awkward and embarrassing situation, her anger quickly flushed down the drain, "Depends, when are you going to start calling me Hermione?"  
  
'She has a smart ass mouth, a nice smart ass mouth though. Those lips look comfortable for mine to lie on,' Draco thought in the spurs of the moment. He could tell by the redness in her cheeks that she was blushing terribly.  
  
"Hermione," Draco said in a matter-of-fact voice, his eyes were darting into hers.  
  
Hermione could feel the cool breeze of his breath tickle her cheek. The only logical reason he could have been doing this was all out of the grief of his father's death, or at least she hoped. There was too much tension between them, she had to get out.  
  
"I have to go pick up a book from the common room, bye," Hermione said, using the excuse to get away from Draco.  
  
Draco let go of Hermione's arms and let her run off, watching her body frantically run off into the distance to the portrait hole. He ran his fingers through his thickly gelled hair that was slicked back, waiting for another victim to prey on. 


	2. Chapter 2- Meeting and Screeching

Chapter 2  
  
Hermione was breathless when she arrived back to the Great Hall, a book in one hand and piles of scrolls in the other. She stared around the room; there was no sight of Draco though she did see Harry and Ron waving at her. She made eye contact with them and gave them some kind of signal to come over here.  
  
"Were you running all the way there and back, 'mione?" Ron asked he could see the sweat glistening on her forehead.  
  
Hermione nodded as Harry gave her a hand with the scrolls. She took a deep breath then stood up straight compared to her slouching position she was in earlier. Hermione pulled her frizzy brown hair back into a bun before it started to fly into different directions.  
  
Hermione stared at Harry; he gave her a genuine smile, "Ready for Potions?"  
  
"She must be, you must be holding 5 of her scrolls ready to be written on," commented Ron.  
  
"Yes, I guess we better start walking to class," said Hermione.  
  
As they were walking along, Ginny ran up to Hermione in panic. Her eyes were red from tears and her hair was sticking out from a ponytail in an awkward position. Ginny told Ron and Harry that her arm was just sore and asked if she could talk to Hermione in private.  
  
"What's wrong, Ginny?" Hermione asked in concern.  
  
Ginny started off with a high pitched voice, "Malfroy, he tried to kiss me and I got afraid so I slapped him. He grabbed onto my hand very tightly and mumbled something under his breath but I kicked him in the shin and ran off."  
  
Hermione was shocked for Draco tried the same move on her. 'I would understand he would be doing this all because of his father's death but whoever heard of hitting on girls to get over sorrow?' Hermione asked herself in thought.  
  
She sighed and said, "I'll talk to Draco about it, Ginny. Feel better okay? I need to go to Potions."  
  
Ginny nodded then asked, "Why'd you just call him Draco? Whatever happen to Malfoy this Malfoy that?"  
  
"I'm not sure, but I have to run bye!" Hermione lied, pretending to run off in a hurry.  
  
She turned her head around to wave goodbye to Ginny as she runs off. Of course this wasn't the smartest of all moves because she ran into someone. This must have been a small school because of all people, she ran into Draco Malfoy once again. Barely even balanced, she panicked and fell backwards. Her hands held support as she was on the floor. Draco fell forward towards her because she had accidently kicked his foot as she fell down.  
  
Now this was surely the worse position she could be in, Draco was right on top of her and just barely 1 inch away from her face. His blue eyes seemed to laugh at her.  
  
"I bet you imagined me on top of you too many times," Draco said in a smart aleck voice.  
  
"Shit, get off of me Draco!" Hermione yelled furiously.  
  
Draco gave her a smirk then barely kissed the tip of her nose, "I don't get that often."  
  
Hermione felt almost disgusted; of all places he kisses her on the nose? Yet it was like an Eskimo kiss, she wasn't sure to feel turned on or what. As he got up and away from her, she could feel the heat that was created between the two of them gone.  
  
"Thank you," said Hermione and grabbed her book and scrolls.  
  
Draco raised an eyebrow up, "For what?"  
  
"Getting off of me but I don't appreciate you stalking me. Also, stop sexually harassing poor girls like Ginny Weasley," Hermione advised Draco.  
  
'You got the poor part right,' Draco thought. He had no reason why he went after the Weasley girl; the only thing he could think of was because she was there.  
  
"You're the dominatrix," said Draco, offering Hermione a hand to get up.  
  
Hermione didn't find humor in it but decided to give him a sarcastic smile so he wouldn't have felt so useless. He smiled back with a naughty secret that seemed to wander upon his lips.  
  
"Since we have Potions together we might as well walk together," Suggested Draco.  
  
You could tell his voice was so planned out, he obviously thought of doing this earlier, anyway. She accepted though, it couldn't hurt. They walked the rest of the way to class without a conversation. She wanted to be kind- hearted to Draco for a moment and give him a chance.  
  
"So how are you coping?" asked Hermione silently, she decided to be brave and be the first one to ask.  
  
Draco pretended like he didn't know what she was talking about, "What do you mean?"  
  
"Oh come on, you know what I mean. Your father has passed away today and you can't tell me you're not sad. I seriously don't see why you're wasting your time with me, you should be with your friends," Hermione said quickly.  
  
"Not everyone is blessed with friends like Potter and Weasley. My friends only talk about the situation behind my back," Draco said coldly, his mood automatically changed.  
  
Hermione felt kind of speechless, should she say sorry or what? She had probably said the most thick-headed thing at that moment. Draco looked at her and noticed for the first time, she almost felt like she should give pity to him. She looked back at Draco and gave him a sincere smile.  
  
"I'm sorry," Hermione said.  
  
"I know you are." 


End file.
